To be nasty and go a bit off-topic, I should say I never bothered trying IE80 after having briefly auditioned IE8, I couldn't simply put with their lack of highs and bloated mid-bass. In my mind I had written off Sennheiser IEMs for a long time, and that's why IE800 truly took me by surprise when I finally tried them.

IE80 sounds amazing to me, after burn-in it is very balanced.

The bass is only bloated if you tune it to the max - otherwise very well controlled and impactful.

Lol- what I figured. Seems we have many undiagnosed bass heads. Hoping someone tries the 650 someday soon.

No, Dsnuts has admitted to being a basshead, So have I. But I believe there are audiophile bassheads (not you're a basshead or an audiophile). I enjoyed the FX700's bass just as much as I enjoyed the HF5, W4 or RE262. Dsnuts state the bass is there when needed. Then again, the 650 is suppose to be mids and highs focused. I should have my 850 by Monday or Tuesday.

One week later and my initial impressions are overall the same: fantastic highs, better mids than FX700 (i.e. not as recessed), lovely sound. Bass is indeed emphasised, a little too much even for my taste but very clear and does not bleed in the mids. However, depending on one's source and music genre, I can see how it can steal the show and obscure a bit the rest of the range. Keep in mind however that I nitpick here.

Mid-bass bump aside, bass is impressive - goes extremely low and is distortion free, has shattering impact and completes well the rest of the sound. A significant challenger from this point of view to XBA-H3. Which in my book is quite an achievement, I'm yet to hear better lows in an IEM than what XBA-H3 can deliver when properly tuned. As XBA-H3, FX850 greatly benefits from cutting a few dB from 110-120Hz as the rest of the spectrum has more space to shine

What JVC should be admired for with FX700/FX850 is that they managed to get a transparent sound and highs that extend to the sky, yet at no time (to my ears at least) the sound is harsh or sibilant - which, with all the praises that I have for IE800 and craving for its out of this world highs, Sennheiser did not manage to do.

Add to all this the "secret woody sauce" that gives the signature JVC timbre to their sound and we have a winner. Not the most accurate IEMs I listened to given the bass emphasis, but not that far either. And even arguably one of the king of universals such as IE800 does require eq-ing (to my ears at least), so I don't see why applying the same to FX850 would make them less worthy.

Joking aside, the FX850 are very very impressive IEMs apart from their ridiculous bass boost, easily among the best I've heard. It's too early to give a serious comparison to the FX700, though even without direct A/B (which I'm planning for the weekend), I feel that these are an improvement in several aspects. While I sympathize with axismundi's post overall, I can't help but disagree about transparency. Neither the FX700 nor the FX850 sound anywhere near transparent from a flat source. Of course they can be equalized or worn with a light seal, to bring them closer to neutrality. I just don't get it why that should be necessary with a flagship model, just like I didn't get it with the XBA-H3 and IE800.

That said, I'm somewhat less disappointed with the FX850 than with the XBA-H3 in that regard. While similarly boosted, the JVC's bass has better damping / control and more linear distribution across the low range.

Joking aside, the FX850 are very very impressive IEMs apart from their ridiculous bass boost, easily among the best I've heard. It's too early to give a serious comparison to the FX700, though even without direct A/B (which I'm planning for the weekend), I feel that these are an improvement in several aspects. While I sympathize with axismundi's post overall, I can't help but disagree about transparency. Neither the FX700 nor the FX850 sound anywhere near transparent from a flat source. Of course they can be equalized or worn with a light seal, to bring them closer to neutrality. I just don't get it why that should be necessary with a flagship model, just like I didn't get it with the XBA-H3 and IE800.

That said, I'm somewhat less disappointed with the FX850 than with the XBA-H3 in that regard. While similarly boosted, the JVC's bass has better damping / control and more linear distribution across the low range.

Thank you sir. I'm so excited! So I'll see mine early next week (hopefully). By the way, I'm still loving the H3 (no tape mod ....lol). But I'm also love the Heaven V and the TE-05. And I enjoy the RE-400 the rare times I put them in my ears. Yes, I'm all over the map!! LOL .... Happy Listening.